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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001399 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/SE, EUR/PD, NEA/PD, DRL 
JCS PASS J-5/CDR S. WRIGHT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR TU
SUBJECT: ANKARA MEDIA REACTION REPORT 
TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 2007 
 
 
In Today's Papers 
 
Parties Unveil Candidate Lists 
All papers report political parties have announced candidate lists 
for the July 22 parliamentary elections.  About 100 existing MPs 
were not included in the ruling AKP list and over 60 were left off 
of the opposition CHP list.  AKP leader Erdogan will run from 
Istanbul, CHP's Deniz Baykal from Antalya, DP's Mehmet Agar from 
Elazig, Anavatan's Erkan Mumcu from Isparta, MHP's Devlet Bahceli 
from Osmaniye, and GP's Cem Uzan from Izmir.  Former Prime Minister 
Mesut Yilmaz will run as an independent candidate from his hometown 
Rize.  Necmettin Erbakan, the leader of the banned Welfare Party 
(RP), will run on the Felicity Party (SP) list from the conservative 
central Anatolian city of Konya, provided the High Election Board 
(YSK) does not block him due to the political ban on the veteran 
Islamist leader.  The leader of Turkey's main Kurdish party, DTP, 
Ahmet Turk, who last week faced a court case for referring to the 
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan as "Mr.," will run as an independent from 
the southeastern province of Mardin.  AKP officials said around 400 
women applied to the party to run for parliament, and some 100 of 
them were nominated. 
 
The YSK will examine the lists and notify the political parties if 
there are any shortcomings. If there are, the parties will be given 
until June 8 to eliminate them.  The lists of candidates will be 
published in the Official Gazette and broadcast by radio and 
television on June 10. 
 
YSK said 42,533,041 voters will cast votes at 158,700 ballot boxes 
across Turkey on July 22. 
 
PKK Terrorists Kill 7 Turkish Soldiers 
All papers report PKK terrorists staged an attack on a Turkish 
gendarme outpost, killing seven soldiers and wounding another eight. 
 The attack in Pulumur in the eastern province of Tunceli was 
carried out by two terrorists who drove into the station in a stolen 
car, tossing grenades while terrorists lying in ambush outside fired 
at the soldiers with long range rifles.  One of the terrorists in 
the car was shot dead while the other managed to escape with 
injuries. 
 
Turkey-EU Troika Meeting 
Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Radikal, Cumhuriyet, Zaman. Yeni Safak 
and others:  The Turkey-EU Troika met in Ankara yesterday with term 
President German FM Steinmeier and the enlargement commissioner Olli 
Rehn in attendance.  Turkey was represented by FM Gul and Chief 
Negotiator Ali Babacan.  Term President Steinmeier said that they 
hope that democratic reforms will continue after the elections and 
that there won't be any alternative to EU membership.  Mainstream 
Sabah says that the PKK-Northern Iraq issue was on the top of the 
Troika's agenda.  Commissioner Rehn expressed concern over the 
Turkish General Staff statement during the presidential elections 
and reiterated EU respect for the Turkish Military.  Rehn 
highlighted the importance of preserving democracy and secularism in 
Turkey and ensured Turkey of EU support in its fight against PKK 
terrorism.  Turkish FM Gul stressed that Turkish patience was 
wearing out about the terrorist attacks from Northern Iraq.  In his 
opening remarks Gul drew attention to Turkey's continuing efforts 
regarding accession to the EU and asked the EU to cooperate to 
continue negotiations.  Rehn and Steinmeier said that negotiations 
would start on three chapters by the end of this month. 
 
US Special Envoy for Countering PKK Calls Akgunay, His New Turkish 
Counterpart 
Islamist-oriented Yeni Safak reports that US Special envoy for 
countering terrorism retired General Joseph Ralston phoned the new 
Turkish Special Envoy Undersecretary Rafet Akgunay on Friday 
afternoon and stressed that he is looking forward to working 
together with Akgunay.  It is reported that no date is determined 
yet for the two special envoys to meet for the first time.  Akgunay 
 
ANKARA 00001399  002 OF 002 
 
 
took up his duties on May 21. 
 
Editorial Commentary on Possible Cross-Border Operations 
Berat Ozipek writes in the conservative daily Star:  "The ongoing 
debate over Northern Iraq seems to be one over domestic politics 
rather than the PKK.  The war mongers are doing their best to 
provoke Turkey into action.  Given some comments from so-called 
experts regarding the possibility of postponing the elections due to 
the situation in Northern Iraq, it looks as if there are some other 
reasons than the PKK behind the remarks encouraging Turkey to 
conduct a cross border operation.  The government has a very 
important responsibility on this issue.  Those who act with a strong 
nationalistic approach or those who pursue politics using the PKK 
issue should not mislead the government.  Everybody can make mistake 
but a government cannot afford to.  The government should resist the 
warmongers; otherwise the consequences will be disastrous." 
 
Can Dundar writes in the mainstream daily Milliyet:  "Washington, 
swamped in Iraq, does not want to see any trouble in the north of 
the country which remains the only stable part of the country. 
Therefore the possibility of Turkey conducting a cross-border 
operation receives a clear no from the US.  The US worries that when 
and if a cross-border operation happens, northern Iraq will turn 
into a chaotic place with suicide bombers just like Baghdad.  On the 
other hand, Washington seems very aware that Turkey is running out 
of patience.  The US needs a formula that would convince Kurds and 
console Turks at the same time, which is a hard thing.  Today 
happens to be the 43rd anniversary of the Johnson letter to then-PM 
Inonu - the letter that prevented Turkey's intervention in Cyprus. 
The traces of the current snowballing anti-Americanism can be found 
some 43 years ago.  Let's hope the US reads Turkey's agony carefully 
and in the right context so that there will be neither a need for 
intervention nor a letter from Washington to prevent it from 
happening." 
 
TV Highlights 
NTV 
 
Domestic News 
 
- A member of the outlawed PKK who allegedly carried out a bomb 
attack on May 12 in the Aegean city of Izmir, killing one and 
injuring 15 others, was arrested Monday. 
 
- Turkey prepares to apply to the UN to seek stronger international 
cooperation in the fight against the PKK. 
 
- The chief of the Russian General Staff Yury Baluyevsky will visit 
Ankara Tuesday as the official guest of his Turkish counterpart 
General Yasar Buyukanit. 
 
- Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener met yesterday with the head 
of Cuban Atomic Research Center Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, the son of 
Fidel Castro. 
 
International News 
 
- President Bush was met with protests in Prague. 
 
- Palestine proposed a new ceasefire. 
 
- ETA will end the ceasefire tomorrow. 
 
- President Bush is having a hard time over Guantanomo issue due to 
recent court decisions. 
 
WILSON